Domain Market Bloghttps://blog.domainmarket.com
Branding and Business Strategy blog.Wed, 07 Feb 2018 00:09:20 +0000en-UShourly1https://wordpress.org/?v=4.9.9AccurateAppraisals.com Provides New Service to Evaluate Domain Nameshttps://blog.domainmarket.com/accurateappraisals-com-provides-new-service-to-evaluate-domain-names/
https://blog.domainmarket.com/accurateappraisals-com-provides-new-service-to-evaluate-domain-names/#respondWed, 07 Feb 2018 00:09:20 +0000https://blog.domainmarket.com/?p=358Domain name owners can now determine the fair and certifiable value for their domains through a new appraisal service. A new website and service, AccurateAppraisals.com, has launched and is offering a new method to determine a certifiable value of a domain name. This new venture from Mike Mann, president and owner of DomainMarket.com, brings a […]

This new venture from Mike Mann, president and owner of DomainMarket.com, brings a new system to the marketplace, making it possible for domain name owners to determine a fair and realistic valuation of a domain that is not influenced by personal biases or reliant on the strict and irrelevant numbers gathered by various algorithms/bots.

“Unlike normal markets and industries, the very best professionals who actually appraise domains can vary widely in their valuations,” Mike Mann said. “This is why it is so critical to get the determination of three professionals to provide a fair appraisal without the risk of the huge biases that all of our competitors have.”

This new service offers:

Expert Appraisals – Three independent appraisers will evaluate every domain carefully, using the best-in-class tools and techniques to determine the fair market value for your domain. The AccurateAppraisals.com system uses the world’s top domain appraisers to examine your domain.

Dependable Accuracy – The customer will receive the average of these three appraisals. This is the only way to really get an accurate appraisal. This will eliminate potential or accidental biases of a single appraisal.

Value Certification – After every appraisal, we provide a certificate, so you can prove your domain’s value to any potential buyers, sellers, accountants, or whoever.

There are many factors that impact the actual value of the domain, which can include a history of previous offers, previous sales at auction, high levels of direct or “type-in” traffic, and other industry factors.

Bots may be able to gather much of this information, but they cannot effectively evaluate it.

The cost for this service is $88 per domain. This is in comparison to other similar services that can go as high as $500 per domain. (In these instances, though, you will not have the three professional appraisers looking at your domain. Instead, the valuation is likely performed by a bot or an amateur who is merely following a set of standardized guidelines.)

AccurateAppraisals.com will, however, only appraise .com domains. This domain extension is the only one that is likely to have extensive value now or in the future.

Before you buy or sell another domain, this new service can help you determine the true value of your online assets and make informed decisions.

]]>https://blog.domainmarket.com/accurateappraisals-com-provides-new-service-to-evaluate-domain-names/feed/0accurateappraisalsA New Push to Have SSLs on Websites?https://blog.domainmarket.com/a-new-push-to-have-ssls-on-websites/
https://blog.domainmarket.com/a-new-push-to-have-ssls-on-websites/#commentsMon, 09 Oct 2017 18:00:42 +0000https://blog.domainmarket.com/?p=353You may have noticed that towards the end of September, your website or websites you regularly visit suddenly had a “Not Secure” message in front of the URL in the browser search bar. This sudden ominous warning, however, only tends to appear when using the Google Chrome web browser and only on a desktop or […]

]]>You may have noticed that towards the end of September, your website or websites you regularly visit suddenly had a “Not Secure” message in front of the URL in the browser search bar. This sudden ominous warning, however, only tends to appear when using the Google Chrome web browser and only on a desktop or laptop, not on a Smartphone.

What does this mean?

Some webmasters feel that Google is forcing them to have SSL certificates on their pages. Indeed, Google supposedly ranks webpages with SSL certificates higher than those that don’t. When it comes to rankings, everyone knows that those at the top will get the most traffic, and subsequently, more conversions. This is why so many try to play Google’s algorithm game and appease the search giant.

What Are SSLs?

What is an SSL certificate, exactly? SSL stands for secure socket layers. A URL’s SSL measures the security and privacy of data transferred between a web server and a browser. In the Google Chrome browser, a “safe and secure” webpage that Google deems to be trustworthy and legitimate will have a green lock symbol and the word “secure” in front of the URL.

Is having SSL on your website necessary?

This question has been of great debate since the end of September when more and more safe and legitimate websites suddenly appeared as “not secure.” Those who sell domain names are frantically looking for solutions to this issue as they fear a drastic drop in domain name sells. After all, who would want to purchase, and possibly invest a lot of money in a website with a domain that isn’t secure?

There are some easy fixes available, including services that provide free SSL certificates to any website for 90 days.

Others, however, contend that the unofficial SSL requirement is a ploy used by Google to force companies to jump through more hoops to rank higher. The observation that the “not secure” message doesn’t appear on other web browsers or on Smartphones, means a good number of potential domain name buyers won’t see the concerning message. This SSL requirement, therefore, should have little impact on potential domain name sales.

What should you do?

If you’re looking to purchase a domain name, you necessarily don’t need to be alarmed if you see the “not secure” warning. There are some websites that are truly malicious and unverified, and correctly warrant the “not secure” label. This is why you need to do your research on the domain you wish to purchase. Formerly used domain names, especially, need additional care and attention.

Implementing an SSL on Your Website

If your website or the website you want to purchase doesn’t have an SSL and comes up in Google Chrome as “not secure,” there are a couple ways to solve the problem.

The first solution is to redirect the “not secure” page to a “secure,” SSL encrypted home page. Services such as Uniregistry.com which provides landing pages that have SSLs.

Another option is to implement the SSLs on your site directly yourself. For this option, you need to first obtain an SSL certificate from a commercial certified authority (CA). The most well-known domain hosting company, GoDaddy. These SSLs are not free and will need to be purchased. The best free SSL certificates can be found at Let’s Encrypt. There are requirements your site must satisfy before applying for an SSL certificate. You’ll also need to know what kind of SSL certificate your site will need. After purchasing your certificate and validating your site, you’ll need to download the certificate and install it into the code of your website. This option of obtaining an SSL certificate is best done by IT and webmaster personnel as it can be too complicated for a business owner without many technical knowledge and skills.

While the uptick in “not secure” websites may alarm some, it isn’t a big deal to others. Depending on your website analytics, the industry your company is in and the demographics of your customers, having an SSL certificate on your website may be necessary.

If you don’t have a website yet for your company, you need one. People do business online and if your company isn’t there, you’re practically invisible.

Domain Market has a wide range of premium domains that can be used in a variety of industries. Contact us today to learn more about our domains or to make a purchase.

]]>https://blog.domainmarket.com/a-new-push-to-have-ssls-on-websites/feed/3The Risk of Knock-Off Domain Nameshttps://blog.domainmarket.com/the-risks-of-knock-off-domain-names/
https://blog.domainmarket.com/the-risks-of-knock-off-domain-names/#respondWed, 20 Sep 2017 23:20:15 +0000https://blog.domainmarket.com/?p=350Earlier this month millions of American got the unpleasant news that their financial information had been or had possibly stolen in the Equifax breach. Consumers worried that their information may have been compromised were sent to a website with the domain name securityequifax2017.com to check if their information had indeed gotten stolen and if it […]

]]>Earlier this month millions of American got the unpleasant news that their financial information had been or had possibly stolen in the Equifax breach.

Consumers worried that their information may have been compromised were sent to a website with the domain name securityequifax2017.com to check if their information had indeed gotten stolen and if it had, a sign up for a free one-year subscription for its credit monitoring service.

The only problem is that this website was not the real, authorized Equifax site, but a knock-off.

Millions of scared, and anxious consumers who were frantically trying to halt further damage to their now exposed financial information were sent to a bogus website where they had to provide additional sensitive personal information.

Consumers were not just burned once, but twice.

What did Equifax do? How was this company hacked and taken advantage of twice?

The knock-off domain name received so much immediate traffic that many Equifax employees thought it was a legitimate website.

The fake website URL was even shared on Equifax’s social media.

This bogus domain name, however, was not the result of a malicious attack, but was whether an experiment by a data security researcher.

The researcher wanted to prove how easy it is for hackers to capitalize on people’s confusion, especially that of millions of people.

The fact that it had Equifax in the domain name, consumers and Equifax employees bought into the idea that it led to an authorized Equifax page.

The fake domain was not spotted many hours later for issues relating to the page’s hosting properties including: WordPress stock installation (which isn’t secure enough to ask for people’s personal information), a poor performing TLS and the suspicious sounding URL, or domain name.

Once Equifax got word of the fake domain name, they deleted all references to the site on social media posts and instead posted the correct URL to the proper page, https://www.equifaxsecurity2017.com.

It was interesting that Equifax did not take the route of hosting the complimentary credit monitoring page on the Equifax.com domain. If it had, the employees would likely not have been fooled into sharing the wrong domain name.

Conclusion

Identity thieves and hackers can easily capitalize on the type of mass confusion that resulted in the Equifax security breach.

Many of the millions whose personal financial information quickly and willingly divulged passwords and private, personal information without a thought on a made-up website that could have been created by tricky hackers and identity thieves and which could have installed computer-crippling malware.

As the debacle with Equifax shows, it is easy for scammers to copy the look and feel of a reputable, big company such as a bank or credit bureau, which in turn tricks consumers into thinking they are visiting the site of a company they know and trust, not a malicious one.

What you choose as a domain name matters. Large, well-known companies are better off buying multiple, related domains to help stem the possibility of the abuse of their website and brand name.

Domain names are also powerful in that many people will gladly go to a website with a company they know, love and trust listed in the domain name.

If you’re starting out on publishing a website for your company and still need a domain name, don’t hesitate to register one (after you decide on what it is). The longer one waits to buy a domain and the fewer one registers, the higher the chances are of someone with malicious intent will take advantage of your site.

If you’ve decided on a domain name, visit Domain Market and browse the wide selection of premium domain names. Feel free to contact us as well if you have any questions about domain names or the domain name registration process.

]]>https://blog.domainmarket.com/the-risks-of-knock-off-domain-names/feed/0Top 5 Domain Name Mythshttps://blog.domainmarket.com/top-5-domain-name-myths/
https://blog.domainmarket.com/top-5-domain-name-myths/#respondTue, 12 Sep 2017 21:46:46 +0000https://blog.domainmarket.com/?p=348If you’re a business owner, a company’s IT specialist, or an entrepreneur, you’ve likely came across the word “domain name.” You know that it has something to do with a website URL and that a domain name is how people find you online. You may feel intimidated when thoughts of working with domain names enter […]

]]>If you’re a business owner, a company’s IT specialist, or an entrepreneur, you’ve likely came across the word “domain name.” You know that it has something to do with a website URL and that a domain name is how people find you online.

You may feel intimidated when thoughts of working with domain names enter your mind. You may think that you don’t have the necessary knowledge, the time, or the budget to work with domain names.

Maybe you don’t yet have a website and think a domain name isn’t necessary.

Despite all the excuses out there to avoid working with domain names, they are simpler than you think.

Here are 5 of the most common myths concerning domain names that most people get caught up on:

Myth #1: Registering a Domain Name is Difficult

There are numerous domain names available on the web just waiting for someone to claim them. Most domain names can be registered in as little as 5 minutes or less. All you need to do is visit an online domain name retailer to browse their available domain names. Simply select the one or two, or more that you want, pay and voila! Some domain name retailers, like Go Daddy sells domain names as well as manage the web hosting and other aspects relating to a customers’ domain names. This allows you to not only register a domain, but it also allows you to also set up a website all at once.

Myth #2: I Only Need a Domain Name if I Have a Website

While domain names are an essential part of any website, you can still utilize a domain name even if you don’t have a website. It is a good idea to jump on a domain name you like or which will be a great fit for your company before launching a website. Even if a website is many years down the road, at least you’ll own (if you keep renewing the domain name) that domain and not have to worry about someone else taking it.

Even if you have a website, registering additional domains can greatly help your company’s future rebranding or product expansion endeavors.

Some people even register domain names to create a branded email address and alternative social media pages.

In any case, having the domain name you want before having a website will remove much frustration when your website does get built and becomes live.

Myth #3: Registering a Domain Name is Expensive

Certain specialty, premium and top-level domain names may be expensive, especially when there is great competition for it, can be enough to break the bank. Most domain names, however, are priced fairly reasonably. Some domains go for as little as $.99 per year.

In fact, the prices of most domain names are so inexpensive, many companies buy multiple domain names and use them in a portfolio to use for branding or as part of their brand protection strategy.

Myth #4: Domain Name Registration Equals Domain Name Ownership

It is a common mistake to equate ownership of a domain name with registering a domain name. While companies may say they own a domain name, they actually only have sole use of the domain name as long as they renew the registration and keep it from expiring.

Domain names are priced on a subscription type schedule that allows a person or a company to register and keep that domain for a certain length of time, which is usually in yearly increments. At the end of the registration period, the domain name registrant has the option to renew the domain name or let it expire. Once a domain name is expired, it is released and someone else can register and claim it.

It is important to renew your domain name registration as a new domain name will require a complete rebranding campaign and all the hard work you did for the company website will either be for naught or it would provide free work to the person who registered your expired domain name.

Myth #5: .Com Domain Names are the Only Option if I Want to Look Professional

There are many different types of domain name extensions out there and more keep getting invented every year. The .com domain name extension is still the most popular and easily recognized one. Because it is so prevalent in the business space, most consumers associate it with authority and trustworthiness.

There are other domain name extensions, that while not as common or memorable, can still be professional. .Net, .org, .biz, .edu, and .co are alternative domain name extensions that are also commonly used and seen as legitimate.

Selecting the most appropriate domain name for your company’s website will take much thought and research. Your domain name will need to include your company’s targeted keywords, be short enough to be easily recalled and remembered and interesting.

Sometimes the domain you want is not available with the .com ending, but it is available using the .biz ending. Don’t let the unavailability of the .com ending force you to utilize a less effective keyword. Try alternate domain name endings first.

Registering a domain name is easier and cheaper than you think. You don’t need extensive IT knowledge. You should register, or reserve, your desired domain name even if you don’t have a website and you should do extensive research in coming up with the keywords to put into your domain name. If the .com domain name extension is already in use, try for a less common, though just as legitimate domain name extension.

If you’re interested in getting a domain name, start with browsing the extensive selection of available domains at Domain Market. We have domain names at every price point and domain names that are appropriate for a variety of industries.

Contact one of our expert staff members to help you find your desired domain name.

]]>https://blog.domainmarket.com/top-5-domain-name-myths/feed/0Top Signs Your WordPress Website Has Been Hackedhttps://blog.domainmarket.com/top-signs-your-wordpress-website-has-been-hacked/
https://blog.domainmarket.com/top-signs-your-wordpress-website-has-been-hacked/#respondThu, 31 Aug 2017 20:51:36 +0000https://blog.domainmarket.com/?p=345Being new to website development and web design, you were hesitant about launching your own website for your small business. After extensive research and countless meetings with friends and on internet forums, you concluded that WordPress is the website platform to go with. WordPress is a solid platform on which to build a website. Its […]

]]>Being new to website development and web design, you were hesitant about launching your own website for your small business. After extensive research and countless meetings with friends and on internet forums, you concluded that WordPress is the website platform to go with.

WordPress is a solid platform on which to build a website. Its ease of use and many customizable options (on the premium WordPress.org site) coupled with its reasonable monthly price (free for the basic wordress.com version and low, monthly rates for the premium wordpress.org version), reputation and strong website security has made it one of the most popular web hosting provider in the world.

You mainly chose WordPress because you could easily create a great-looking, professional website without knowing any coding. The added assurance of knowing your newly designed website will be adequately protected from hackers is another reason you chose this particular website building platform.

Years go by and your website is doing great.

Then suddenly, you notice something isn’t right. You know that WordPress has continuous updates which can make things look and behave oddly.

Or maybe your WordPress website has gotten hacked.

It’s hard to think that your website on WordPress has gotten hacked. After all WordPress has been recognized as providing some of the highest security on the websites it hosts.

A change in the website’s appearance.

When you go to view your website and it is noticeably different from the way it was the day before and you’re the only in-house web developer, it is an obvious sign that your site got hacked.

Bad coding or invisible code not only causes your website to look different, but it will cause it to slow down. Your website’s rankings on Google will also be negatively affected and the content may be inappropriate to your audience.

Trouble logging in.

Hackers sometimes get into the admin account and delete you from it. Once you’ve been deleted from the admin account, you won’t be able to change your password.

Fixing this issue requires some technical coding know-how. You’ll have to find an FTP client to move your website’s wp-login.php to. After inserting some lines of code, you will then be able to start anew.

A sudden decrease in traffic.

Your website has been doing great despite it being set up on the free WordPress version. After months of constant, steady growth in traffic, you realized a sudden decrease.

The reason behind this sharp drop off is the poor user experience. Hackers like to redirect websites to spammy websites, which is something that website visitors don’t like. The spammy site re-directs is a surefire way to scare people from visiting your site.

New user accounts.

Another semi-obvious sign that your website has gotten hacked is the sudden appearance of a new user you don’t recognize nor recall adding to the website admin.

Incorrect meta descriptions.

When you do a Google search for your site and you notice incorrect or missing meta descriptions, you can be sure that hackers got into the back-end of your website. Even if everything looks as it should in the WordPress dashboard, chances are that hackers got into the coding to make the incorrect or missing meta descriptions only visible to search engines. This can in turn, lower your website’s search results rankings, making your website harder to find.

Issues with email.

Hackers like to get into your WordPress account and send spam emails to as many emails as possible. Besides annoying customers and potential customers, excessive email spamming can get your website added to Google’s blacklist, where it can become banned and no longer shown in search results.

Your email server may be compromised if you have a hard time sending or receiving emails. It is best to resolve this issue as soon as possible to avoid the risk of Google pulling your website down.

While WordPress does have a good reputation for is website security, hacks and breaches do occur. Once you know what to look for, what should you do to prevent or minimize a future attack on your website?

Here are some extra safety measures you can implement:

Monitor your site’s traffic frequently using either your hosting provider or a website analytics reporting tool such as Google Analytics.

As soon as you see anything amiss, whether it is your website’s appearance, a sharp decrease in traffic, or spammy links, take the necessary action immediately.

Only use WordPress plugins and themes that have been developed by reputable developers.

Always keep an updated version of WordPress, it plugins and themes

There is no website that is completely immune to a hack. Taking additional precautions to minimize the risk and to act quickly when something doesn’t look right are the most effective ways to help keep your website protected.

Knowing what to look for will help you quickly identify potential threats, enabling you to take the necessary action to prevent further damage.

A website hack can happen regardless what version of WordPress (free or paid) you have. For the paid version, you’re able to choose your own domain name, but you’ll need to find your own web hosting provider.

If you are looking for ideas for domain names for your WordPress website, check out the wide offerings at Domain Market. We have premium domains that make your start-up look professional.

Contact us today to discuss the domain name options that would best benefit your business.

]]>https://blog.domainmarket.com/top-signs-your-wordpress-website-has-been-hacked/feed/0Does Free Speech Keep Websites From Getting De-Indexed?https://blog.domainmarket.com/does-free-speech-keep-google-from-de-indexing-websites/
https://blog.domainmarket.com/does-free-speech-keep-google-from-de-indexing-websites/#respondWed, 16 Aug 2017 21:10:07 +0000https://blog.domainmarket.com/?p=343News spread throughout the Internet world about Google’s and GoDaddy’s pulling the plug on The Daily Stormer’s domain after the violent protests that occurred a few days prior in Charlottesville, Virginia on the University of Virginia’s campus. The Daily Stormer is a white supremacist website that GoDaddy, the domain’s hosting service, dropped in response to […]

News spread throughout the Internet world about Google’s and GoDaddy’s pulling the plug on The Daily Stormer’s domain after the violent protests that occurred a few days prior in Charlottesville, Virginia on the University of Virginia’s campus.

The Daily Stormer is a white supremacist website that GoDaddy, the domain’s hosting service, dropped in response to the groups alleged violent racist protest that left one dead one several injured.

Google decided a few days later to remove the website and its domain from its index libraries. It is speculated that Google de-indexed the website due to violations of Google’s terms of service. The delay on the part of Google may give the impression that the search engine giant acted in response to peer pressure and took the site down because it stated a controversial, unpopular opinion.

It is not common for websites and their corresponding domains to get pulled by both services.

Both GoDaddy and Google have “rules of play” or “terms of service” website owners must abide by to avoid getting their websites blacklisted and banned. GoDaddy, Google and many social media sites have clauses in their terms of service stating the ban of web properties that advocate pornography, racism and terrorism. Special interest websites and social media accounts that incite violence are also subject to getting banned.

The most common reason that GoDaddy no longer hosts domains is because the domain names expire and the website owner fails to renew it. Once a website’s domain registration expires, the owner has multiple chances to save and keep the domain before GoDaddy takes away the domain and sells it.

How Can a Website Get Banned in Google?

Google is the mother of search engines. Webmasters and SEOers toil to satisfy it as well as their targets online Internet users. If you don’t follow Google algorithms, your website will likely go unnoticed, lost in the chaos and noise of the millions of other websites out there. The algorithms are constantly changing as Google finds better, improved ways to deliver a better Internet search experience to web users.

Just as Google has a “to do” list to get your website to rank in search results, it also has a “no-no” list with penalties ranging from a small slap on the wrist to getting your website removed and de-indexed.

The following are things that can warrant a potentially devastating penalty of getting your site de-indexed by Google:

Copyright or DMCA Claims. Copying someone else’s content or using another’s video or image without permission is frowned upon by Google. Make sure the content you publish is completely original and unique and either use your own original photos or properly link to and cite the source.

Paid Links. Google hates unnatural links. The fishy, unethical link baiting and purchasing links of link building of years past is what brought about Google’s Penguin algorithm.

Keyword Stuffing. Another looked down upon practice of past link building practices was keyword stuffing. This is where a linked targeted keyword appeared too frequently in the copy of a webpage. To avoid getting penalized, use keywords sparingly and naturally.

Masking Keywords. Some SEOers tried to get around the Penguin and Panda algorithms by hiding keywords in the background of a webpage in a practice called keyword masking.

Spammy or Malicious Links. Linking to spammy or malicious websites is a sure way to get Google to drop your website. After all, Google wants to deliver the best browsing experience to customers. Getting re-directed to a malicious site is not.

Not Following Panda, Penguin or Hummingbird Algorithms. Google’s Panda algorithm came out in response to the influx of websites that had irrelevant, useless, copyrighted content that was stuffed with excessive use of keywords. The penguin algorithm came out a few years later to punish websites that participated in unethical link-building practices such as buying links. The latest algorithm, the hummingbird looks more at long-tail keywords and each word within a search query.

There are many websites out there. Not all of them are associated with businesses. There are some websites that are blogs or special interest. Whether one has a website for business or for personal use, a website is a form of public expression.

Did Google and GoDaddy overstep their right and infringe on free speech or were they right to exercise their right to censor and ban the Daily Stormer website and its domain?

If Google and GoDaddy have the right to censor which domains they host and register and which websites to crawl and rank, what will be their boundaries?

Could it be that cases such as what happened with Daily Storm will become more common in the future?

If you’re nervous about purchasing a domain for your website, contact us at Domain Market today. We have a wide selection of premium, high-quality domains available for a variety of industries.

]]>https://blog.domainmarket.com/does-free-speech-keep-google-from-de-indexing-websites/feed/0Google Website De-Indexing Does it Violate Free SpeechWhat Are Domain Names and What is Their Historyhttps://blog.domainmarket.com/what-are-domain-names-and-what-is-their-history/
https://blog.domainmarket.com/what-are-domain-names-and-what-is-their-history/#respondTue, 01 Aug 2017 17:55:34 +0000https://blog.domainmarket.com/?p=341You may not be familiar about the background and origin of domain names. Don’t worry, you’re not alone. What is in the basic vocabulary of web developers, SEOs and IT professional, is often a foreign concept to business owners. Having a basic understanding of domain names, however, will give you added power in running your […]

]]>You may not be familiar about the background and origin of domain names. Don’t worry, you’re not alone. What is in the basic vocabulary of web developers, SEOs and IT professional, is often a foreign concept to business owners.

Domain names have a relatively short history, dating back to the creation of the Internet. Thus, they are a new concept the modern business owner will likely encounter.

Domain names play a huge role in your company’s online presence.

Before you know the importance of domain names to your business, we’ll discuss what domain names are and their origin.

What are Domain Names?

You’ll notice that every time you go to a website, a URL (also called the website address) will appear in the browser’s search bar. This URL contains part of the website’s domain name.

A domain name is comprised of multiple components including top-level domains (TLDs), secondary and third-level domains.

Top-level domains are on the right most side of the URL. Common TLDs are: .com, .org, .net, .gov, .edu, and .biz. Secondary domains are those in the URL that appear right before the top-level one. For example, the URL of www.sample.com, has a secondary domain of “sample” and a top-level domain of .com.

The hierarchy of domains in a domain name decrease from right to left and every domain name ends with a top level domain.

The next component of the domain name indicates the server that the domain is on. For the above example, www indicates that the World Wide Web (or internet) is the server.

Why are Domain Names Important?

URLs/domain names are the ways your website is found. Domain names are used to establish a unique identity. Organizations can choose a domain name that corresponds to their name, helping Internet users to reach them easily.

By default, computers only read in numbers. People read in letters, which make up words. The domain name system (DNS) sets the rules and procedures for domain names and it is also where every domain name is registered.

Domain names translate the numerical identification numbers of computers and networks into text-based labels (URLs) that area easier for people to use and remember. URLs also represent the host computer name.

A domain name represents the internet protocol (IP) that is used to access the internet, whether that be through a server, or a website.

How do I Get a Domain Name?

Selecting a domain name for your business needs to be done with care. There are many components one must consider including the use of targeted keywords, ease of typeability and memorization, uniqueness and length.

The first step in selecting a good domain for our business is to be familiar with the purpose and products your company offers. From there you can come up with keywords to focus on.

When you settle on a domain name, you must go to a third-party domain name registrar provider and register it. You’ll have to pay an annual fee to maintain ownership of your registered domain name.

When a domain is registered with a registrar, certain information will be required including: a contact for the administrator to oversee the domain name, a technical contact who manages the servers and the domain registry, a billing contact for who will receive the invoices from the domain name registry, and the name servers that will host the domain name’s resource records.

Domain names aren’t all priced the same. Factors such as popularity and the top-level domain will affect how cheap or expensive a domain name is.

History of Domain Names

The domain name system was created in 1983 as a part of the ARPANET to offset the massive growth of the ARPANET network, which had gotten so large to properly maintain and organize its centralized hostname registry.

The first commercial Internet domain name, with the top-level domain of .com was registered on March 15, 1985 in the name symbolics.com by Symbolics Inc., a computer systems firm in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

When the Domain Name System was devised in the 1980s, the domain name space was divided into two main groups of domains: Country code top-level domains (ccTLD) and generic top-level domains (gTLD). The country code top-level domains were based on the two-character territory codes of country abbreviations (i.e. .uk for England, .ca for Canada, .mx for Mexico). Seven generic top-level domains were created, which represent most domain names today. These are: .gov, .edu, .com, .mil, .org, .net, and .int.

All the top-level domains are stored in a domain name server root zone database that is maintained by the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA).

The IANA maintained database also includes special-use domain names and those that have been trademarked for corporate use.

ICANN, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers gives domain registrars the right to use and sell domain names. Each accredited registrar technically services and maintains each of the TLDs in its database.

When a domain name is registered in a domain name registrar, it assigns names to the registered TLD and publishes the new owner’s information using the WHOIS protocol.

Knowing a little about domain names will help you make better decisions about coming up with domain names for your business’ web properties and how to navigate the domain name purchasing and registration process.

Whether you’re looking for ideas for a domain name for your business website or you’re ready to purchase a domain, feel free to browse the library at Domain Market.

]]>https://blog.domainmarket.com/what-are-domain-names-and-what-is-their-history/feed/0Use Your Domain Name to Start Protecting Your Brand Onlinehttps://blog.domainmarket.com/use-your-domain-name-to-protect-your-brand/
https://blog.domainmarket.com/use-your-domain-name-to-protect-your-brand/#respondThu, 13 Jul 2017 16:21:02 +0000https://blog.domainmarket.com/?p=337Did you know that your domain name and the integrity of your brand’s online presence are related? If you think about it, it makes sense. When you browse for a business online, don’t you judge or come up with some sort of perception about the brand’s credibility based on the URL of its website? This […]

]]>Did you know that your domain name and the integrity of your brand’s online presence are related?

If you think about it, it makes sense.

When you browse for a business online, don’t you judge or come up with some sort of perception about the brand’s credibility based on the URL of its website?

This is why selecting, maintaining, keeping and protecting a high-quality, premium domain name is important. If you’re able to guard your website’s domain name from hackers and counterfeits, the more trustworthy your company will appear.

A Brand Can’t Be Established Online Without A Domain

If you look around at the biggest, most successful or most popular brands, they have strong, simple, catchy, easy-to-remember domain names that contain keywords such as their company’s name.

For large companies, the name of their company is the same as the keyword they’re ranking for in SEO. These domains are easily recognized and web users have no doubt that when they type in a URL with the company’s business name in it.

For instance, if you typed in Pepsi.com, you can count on it taking you to the homepage of the large, popular soda brand, Pepsi. Pepsi has been around for many years and its products are consumed all over the world. They’re a legit company you can trust.

Chances are these well-known, well-established companies wasted no time in buying, registering, and protecting their website’s domain names.

Registration of domains is an important first-step to take. You eliminate the opportunity for someone to take your domain name from you by registering it through a web hosting service.

You just can’t stop there. When you register your domain, you need to lock the domain at a certain registry level so that no just anyone can come in and hijack your domain name, and thus, diminish your company’s online reputation. Only allowing a few users to have the proper credentials needed to change the domain is one way to keep it out of the hands of others who wish to do your company harm.

Another safeguard you can implement is to align your domains with corporate objectives and make it clear that your domain is clearly tied to your business. In the case that someone comes in and hijacks your domain, your returning customers and those familiar with your brand will better notice the discrepancies in the messaging and way of communicating.

Be Proactive to Create Opportunities for Your Brand

As with many things in life, it is better to be proactive and prevent something horrible from happening than to wait until something does happen and you must put out the fires. Install spyware, and SSL certificates to be safe.

Also consider a variety of top-level domains (even international ones) that can provide benefits and opportunities for your business’ brand. By adding multiple top-level domains to your company’s domain portfolio, you’re taking away opportunities for similar domains as your company has to fall into the wrong hands.

In continuing the Pepsi example, Pepsi is an international company. If they only stuck with buying, registering and maintaining the U.S. Pepsi.com domain, someone could easily purchase pepsi.co.jp (Pepsi’s Japan site) and create a fake Pepsi site where they can post malicious content on. The result is a hit to Pepsi’s online reputation and image.

What Are Cyber Squatters and What Do They Do?

Cyber squatters use well-known domains to divert the traffic that that would normally go to a brand’s site to the squatters site. Cyber squatters then make money off of unsuspecting customers who don’t know they landed on an imitation or fake website.

These domain hackers can utilize tricky, hard to catch tactics such as phishing, using spoofed domains and using homoglyphs in a legit domain.

Sometimes the attack can be so subtle that a company won’t catch on until a lot of reputation damage has been done.

Not all cyber squatters and hackers can be caught, but by doing your due diligence in being proactive, registering multiple top-level domains, limiting who gets administrator access and regularly checking your domains, you can help minimize the risk of a reputation attack on your brand.

Whether you’re looking for your first domain for your website or you’re looking for multiple versions and combination of top-level domains to expand and diversify your domain portfolio to protect your domain, and reputation from getting hijacked, Domain Market has the premium domains you’re looking for.

Contact us today to learn more about domains, the domain buying process and how to register and protect your domain.

]]>https://blog.domainmarket.com/use-your-domain-name-to-protect-your-brand/feed/0Browser address barAfrican Cities Digging Top Level Domain Nameshttps://blog.domainmarket.com/african-cities-digging-top-level-domain-names/
https://blog.domainmarket.com/african-cities-digging-top-level-domain-names/#respondThu, 06 Jul 2017 18:04:17 +0000https://blog.domainmarket.com/?p=335You probably wouldn’t think as Africa as having an interest in domain names. Many cities in Africa have spotty Internet connection and limited access to computers. Why would they be interested in domain names, especially top-level domain names? Contrary to what you may believe, Africans are extremely connected to each other and others around the […]

]]>You probably wouldn’t think as Africa as having an interest in domain names. Many cities in Africa have spotty Internet connection and limited access to computers.

Why would they be interested in domain names, especially top-level domain names?

Contrary to what you may believe, Africans are extremely connected to each other and others around the world. This connectedness is done through the wide availability of mobile phones. Some of these phones are smartphones with full internet browsers while others are feature phones with a crude, limited internet.

The access to some form of the internet has created the need for companies (both domestically and internationally) that do business in Africa to create websites, which all need a domain name.

The Popularity of .Africa

It is no surprise that country governments and business across Africa have preferred to use the top-level domain name extension of .Africa.

The domain name registry seller of the .Africa domain has also sold and managed sites such as .co.za and org.za. The .za domain name extensions are remnants of the former company called ZA Central Registry. Since 2012, more than 10,000 African domain names have been registered using the .Africa extension. The company has seen an uptick in African domain name registrations. The results have been the registration of over 1000 new .Africa domains already so far in the beginning of July.

There are many possible reasons for the growth of TLD name registration in Africa. Some of the common hypothesis include the domain name purchasing and registration process and the wide-open domain name frontier that is present in Africa.

Both African based and international organizations, government agencies, for-profit corporations and nonprofit organizations have climbed onto the .Africa bandwagon.

Geographic Top-Level Domains

Some African cities have gone a step further than the .africa domain and have registered geographic specific top-level domains.

The top three cities with the highest concentration of geographic top-level domains (gTLDs) are: Cape Town, Johannesburg and Durban. It is estimated that these three cities have already registered 10,000 domain names.

Not surprising, the corresponding TLD extensions are .capetown, .joburg and .durban.

The same company that sell the .africa, .capetown, .joburg and .durbin domain name extensions also are working with other cities around the world to offer such geographic top-level domains as .berlin and .newyork.

A spokesperson of the domain name seller and registry admits that the .com top-level domain extension is still by far the most sought after and used. Nevertheless, he is confident that the .africa and the more specific geographical top-level domains will continue to be popular and valuable.

The company is confident that it will sell its goal of 25,000 new top-level domain names.

A top-level domain is important to your website. It will make your website stand out and be easy to remember by web users.

Whether you’re re-designing your brand’s website or building one for the first time, carefully think about its domain name.

For ideas on domain names and to find high-quality premium top-level domain names, check out the large selection found at Domain Market.

If you need any assistance on finding the right domain for your website or to make a purchase, contact us today.

]]>https://blog.domainmarket.com/african-cities-digging-top-level-domain-names/feed/0Are .Art Domains Worth all The Hype?https://blog.domainmarket.com/are-art-domains-worth-all-the-hype/
https://blog.domainmarket.com/are-art-domains-worth-all-the-hype/#respondTue, 27 Jun 2017 22:26:10 +0000https://blog.domainmarket.com/?p=331 Be prepared for some changes when you purchase a premium domain name through a registrar, namely with the extension of .art. Yes, .art. Apparently, there are around 3.5 million premium domains with the .art extension. Most of these domains are selling in the hundreds or thousands. Some examples include: ReverserMotgage.art for $390, Horrible.art for […]

Be prepared for some changes when you purchase a premium domain name through a registrar, namely with the extension of .art.

Yes, .art.

Apparently, there are around 3.5 million premium domains with the .art extension. Most of these domains are selling in the hundreds or thousands.

Some examples include: ReverserMotgage.art for $390, Horrible.art for $2,100, and FantasyFootball.art for $1,100.

The New Domain Pricing Structure?

It is not common for domains to have more than a handful of pricing levels. Standard domains are the cheapest and can’t be as customized. Premium domains are more expensive because they are seen as more valuable, whereby increasing the competition to buy them. Within certain premium domain name extensions, the pricing can vary based on the name.

The more domains that are sold with a certain extension, the greater the flexibility in expanding different price levels.

The 700 different pricing tiers for the .art domain appears unusual for a domain that has more 3.5 million premium domains.

This unusual domain pricing strategy has befuddled industry experts and have gotten a mixed reception from domain registries.

Some registries like Donut and Uniregistry have accepted the more expensive pricing while others, including the domain registry giant, GoDaddy, have brought fierce pushback in response to the price hike and change.

Most of the pushback has come from the confusion of what to do with the .art domains that have been registered. Some domain registries have begun implementing a grandfather policy where only the .art domains purchased after the price hike will be forced to pay the higher amount.

The Hip .Art Domain

Why is the .art domain the newest domain fad? You would think the .art domain would appeal to artists. But why are companies that have nothing to do with art signing-up?

It is still a mystery as to why companies (not artists) are flocking to the .art extension. There are two leading hypotheses:

.art, like .com are only three letters long, making them really easy to remember. The .art extension is also short, making the URL look better in the browser.

.art can be used for sites in different parts of the world that speak a different language. The word art is the same in English, Spanish and French.

It is curious why this extension has become the latest craze. After all, wouldn’t the .art extension be perfect for artists?

Since the .art domains have become available in early May, it is estimated that there are at least 3.5 million .art domains.

Concerns

As with all new trends and fads, there are plenty of sceptics who think that .art will never be the new .com. It is still new and many experts think its appeal will eventually fade.

The quality of .art’s premium domains are also under scrutiny. After all, 3.5 million premium domains are a lot.

The 700 different pricing levels domain registries will be required to sell .art domains add increasing complexity to the domain buying process by making it harder to rank the quality of premium domains into more segmented layers.

It is important to have a high-quality domain for your business’ website. It still has yet to be determined if the .art domain popularity will last. In the meantime, you can play it safe and get choose a premium .com domain from the many available at Domain Market.

Contact us today to learn more about your premium domain buying options.